This conference is the seventh in the series of international conferences on sarcoidosis. These meetings have come to represent the main respository of the bulk of our contrmporary knowledge about sarcoidosis. Because of the unsolved problems surrounding the pathogenesis of granulomatous inflammation which characterizes sarcoidosis and other conditions of known and unknown etiology, these conferences have attracted scientists in many allied fields as well as clinical investigators. Three signal areas to be explored by the participants are the elaboration of an in vitro test for sarcoidosis, the devising of an appropriate animal model for sarcoidosis and other granulomatous diseases and the epidemiology of sarcoidosis to include, if possible, African and Asian areas. The single most fruitful area for discussion during the conference will be the immunologic aspects of the disorder.